


monster hunters

by amybri2002



Series: Sacary Village [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Human AU, Knife Mention, M/M, discussion of past death, implied past bad family relations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:07:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25648564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amybri2002/pseuds/amybri2002
Summary: Logan and Virgil spend their first full day in their new town, and join forces with the town's self proclaimed 'monster hunters', the Prince twins.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Deceit | Janus Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: Sacary Village [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1833610
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	monster hunters

**Author's Note:**

> hey! this is part two for my vaguely-gravity-falls-inspired-but-not-quite-au. you don't need to read the first part if you don't want to b u t i would recommend it simply for this to make more sense haha. anyway this chapter was a lot of fun for me and would have had it posted like a week ago but ran out of time and then was offline all week, but here we are now! hope y'all enjoy~

When Virgil woke up the next morning, there was a brief panic as he tried to figure out where he was, why he was in such an unfamiliar bedroom, until he remember the move. Right, of course - he was with _Janus_ now, in some sort of attic bedroom, sunlight seeping in through a large, circular window and Logan sat up in bed on the other side of the room, flicking through the pages of some encyclopaedia. Virgil slowly sat up as well, looking around the room with a tired expression.

"Ah, Virgil," Logan asked, shutting his book tight. "Good morning."

Virgil blinked. "How long have you been awake?"

"I'm not sure," Logan said. "An hour, maybe?" 

"Oh."

Logan stood up and made his way over to Virgil's bed, sitting down on top and opening up his arms. Smiling, Virgil sank into him, allowing Logan to hug him tightly. It was a routine of theirs that they'd quickly gotten used to over the past year and a half, a silent reminder every day that, even if the world wasn't offering anything else, they still had each other. Logan was alive, and well, and right here besides him, and things would be okay.

"I didn't dream up yesterday, right?" Logan checked, glancing down at Virgil.

Virgil blinked, confused for a moment, before his eyes widened. _Oh_. He'd forgotten about that. A dragon, in the forest. What the hell had that been about? "Kinda hope that we did, honestly," Virgil said. "I mean... a _dragon_?"

"Yeah." Logan hummed. "Janus said he'd explain everything, right?"

"Yup." Virgil wiggled away from Logan, moving closer to the wall. Sensing that Virgil was done with physical contact for the morning, Logan stood up, moving back towards his bed. "I... don't know what to think about Janus."

"I know, Virgil," Logan said, "but we'll be fine. He hasn't tried to hurt us, correct?"

"I mean, yeah, so far."

"He saved us yesterday," Logan reminded him.

"He didn't know it was _us_ then," Virgil said. "How did he even know the dragon was there? What was he doing in the cave?"

"He'll explain everything later."

"He _better_ explain." Virgil looked around the room, eyes landing on the window. "Window looks big enough for us to climb out. It's not to late to pick up my running away plan, is it?"

Logan sighed. "We're not running away, Virgil."

He stood up, heading towards his suitcase and pulling out some clothes. Virgil turned his head as Logan got changed, before the two switched places and Virgil got changed as well. Another routine they'd settled into, changing in one another's presence for fear of being left alone. Logan always refused to leave Virgil's side, and Virgil was grateful for that.

"I'd like to go into town today," Logan decided, as the two made their way to the bathroom just down the hall, which Janus has showed them last night. "Buy a notebook of sorts, to record information about that dragon we saw and any other things we end up seeing."

Virgil frowned. "What, you want to go seeking out all the weird shit again?"

"Well, I believe it will be interesting," Logan claimed. "I'm not asking you to come with me."

Virgil would have come anyway, and Logan knew that. He _also_ knew there was no way in hell that Virgil would want to seek out danger. "Logan, I don't think-"

"We'll be fine," Logan said. "I just want to go back and get a drawing of it. After that, I don't mind if we _don't_ go looking for other things. But if we do happen to come across something-"

"We will run in the opposite direction-"

"I will want to attempt to understand it," Logan corrected. He began to brush his teeth, which Virgil copied a few seconds later. Virgil didn't feel like arguing anymore, but knew that if Logan _did_ go back out there, Virgil would attempt to stop him. He was fairly certain that Logan knew that too.

Once the two had finished with their quick wash, they headed downstairs, hearing footsteps wandering around. Before entering the kitchen, to the source of the footsteps, Virgil and Logan looked at each other, Logan silently communicating to Virgil that it would be fine. Although they hadn't had much time to talk to Janus the night before, after arriving home late from Patton's, he _had_ told them that they were welcome to come downstairs into the kitchen whenever they were ready.

Logan entered the kitchen first, with Virgil following tentatively behind. He wasn't sure what time it was - was it too early for them to be awake? What if he had imagined last nights conversation and were actually meant to wait to be collected from their room, like a few other places that the brothers had stayed in? What if Janus already _hated_ them and wanted them gone?

Virgil's fears quickly faded, though, when he saw Janus' face brighten up upon seeing the two brothers.

"Logan, Virgil, good morning," he greeted. "I trust you had a good sleep?"

Logan nodded, smiling politely at Janus. "Yes, thank you. It's a lovely room." He took a seat at the table as Janus sat down himself. Virgil still hovered in the doorway, assessing the situation.

"It's just an attic," Janus said. "If all goes well and you two can stay here permanently, we can decorate it properly."

Virgil frowned. "Permanently?" he repeated, stepping further into the room.

Janus blinked. "Yes? I thought you knew that by taking you in I was intending to adopt?"

Logan glanced at Virgil, then back at Janus. "We weren't told. It's very... considerate of you, though. Although, fair warning, every other place we've stayed in has had... difficulties."

"I'm well aware," Janus confirmed, straightening his posture and motioning for Virgil to sit down. Although still a little hesitant, Virgil complied. "What separates me from the rest of them, though, is that I am your uncle, and I only want what's best for both of you. I know you two have been through... a lot, recently, and I have every intention to make sure that you are now safe."

Virgil wasn't sure what to make of that. It seemed almost too good to be true. And he _didn't_ trust Janus, not one bit. "If you're our uncle," he said, "how come we've never heard of you before?" That question had been plaguing his mind since he'd been informed of him moving in with Janus, and still set off all sorts of warnings.

"My brother - well, your father and I, we... well, we haven't talked in a while, to say the least."

"Well, yeah, he's been dead for a year and a half," Virgil said, jokingly, although immediately regretted it afterwards as he saw the sort of _sad_ expression on Janus' face. "Sorry," he mumbled after. "Just- you weren't even at the funeral."

Janus gulped. "I know. I- I wanted to be there," he said. "Or _would have_ wanted to be there, if I'd known. I hadn't spoken to him for _years_ before. Or the rest of our family. It's only recently that I heard of his passing. And I'm- I'm dreadfully sorry, Virgil, Logan. I can't- I can't imagine what it must be like."

Virgil raised an eyebrow at that last statement, but didn't say anything else. After a few more moments of silence, Janus stood up and made his way over to the side, before returning a few seconds later with a plate of pancakes.

"Breakfast," he said. "No more talk of death for now. We can talk more about it another time, okay?"

Virgil shrugged. "Alright." After Janus handed him a clean plate, he grabbed a pancake from the centre of the table and began to eat.

After a few moments of silence, Janus spoke again, "So, since you two are getting settled in, we should probably talk ground rules."

Virgil paused eating for a moment, trying not to show how nervous that made him. It was expected, he supposed, but previous places he'd lived in had been pretty ridiculous, and he didn't want to end up somewhere where everything he did was controlled again. He glanced over at Logan, who just stared at Janus intently. Logan had always been a stickler for the rules, he was probably excited to hear them.

"In all honesty, I don't really care what you two do," Janus began, causing both Virgil and Logan to frown. What did that mean? "You're free to come in and out of the house as you please, all rooms here are open, including my bedroom as long as I'm not sleeping - unless it's an emergency, of course - apart from the shed in the garden. That's my space, and I'd rather you two not poke your head around. Even if you see weird lights coming from inside." He paused. " _Especially_ if you see weird lights coming from inside."

There was a long silence, before Logan quietly said, "Anything else?"

Janus shrugged. "I mean, you're both teenagers, I assume you know how to take care of yourselves. If you need any money, just ask, although obviously I'll be hesitant if it's a ridiculous amount. You can have whatever food we have in, or buy your own if you'd prefer. I'll make breakfast and dinner anyway, and lunch if you need it. Patton across the road will be more than willing to provide that as well. Speaking of, feel free to go to Patton's whenever, he's an alright guy, his kids come round here all the time."

"So you... really just don't care what we do?" Virgil asked. "Like, we can just do... whatever?"

"Well, sure." Janus hummed. "I mean, I'd advice against you taking drugs or committing any serious crimes, and obviously I'd like you to do fairly well at school - let me know if there are any problems with school, by the way, I won't be angry if you're struggling. You still have until next week before school starts, though."

Huh. Even their parents had been more strict than this. This was... This was weird.

"I believe that covers it all. I won't give you a curfew, but if you're going to be home super late, or if you're staying at some other house, let me know." Janus smiled. "I want you two to be comfortable here, okay? If you ever need anything, you can tell me."

Another silence. Virgil continued eating, eyes flickering up to Janus every few seconds.

"So," Logan eventually said, "can we talk about yesterday yet?"

Janus' eyes widened. "Yesterday?" he repeated.

"Yes?" Logan said, tilting his head. "The dragon, remember?"

There was a pause, and then laughter. " _Dragon_? Don't be silly."

Logan frowned. "You were there. You said you'd explain everything today."

"Did I?" Janus hummed. "You must have dreamt that, Logan."

"No, no, he definitely didn't dream it," Virgil said, beginning to feel a little concerned. "I was also there, and we saw you handle the dragon."

Janus shrugged. "Huh. Well, you boys have a great imagination."

Logan stood up, finished with his breakfast. "I bet it's still there," he said, sounding a little agitated, gritting his teeth. "We could show you. Jog your memory a little."

Janus rolled his eyes, and Virgil was half-tempted to punch him in the face. He restrained himself, because, despite the fact he still didn't _trust_ Janus, he _had_ been pretty nice to them so far. "And where was this dragon, exactly? Because I feel like if there was a dragon in the town, I would know about it."

"It- It was in the forest," Logan said, staring hard at Janus. "You were _there_."

Janus was silent for a moment, something flickering through his eyes - fear? Worry? Anger? "I wouldn't go in the forest if I were you," he said. "It's dangerous."

"Thought you said we could do what we want," Virgil said, regretting it slightly afterwards.

"Of course, I won't stop you, but..." He shook his head. "Actually, no. Unless you're with Patton or myself, no going in the forest. It's dangerous, and I don't want either of you two getting lost." There was something different in his voice, something that Virgil couldn't quite place, but something that also made Virgil feel anxious. That calm, easy-going nature had faded. He sounded stricter, and... and Virgil didn't want to know what would happen if he disobeyed Janus. Going against his 'guardians' wishes had never done him any favours in the past.

"Alright," Logan eventually said, still sounding a little bitter. "I'm... sorry." It occurred to Virgil that perhaps that final tone had made him just as anxious as Virgil.

"Don't apologise, Logan," Janus said, returning to his calmer nature from before. "Now, how about we all take a little walk into town today? Get to know each other a little better. Maybe get you some stuff for the room, or some new clothes if you'd like."

~*~

"Roman, Roman, Roman!"

Roman groaned, turning over in his bed and wrapping his quilt tighter around him.

"Roman!" The voice continued to repeat, over and over. Roman just wanted to continue sleeping. He'd been up late last night and, whilst that wasn't exactly an uncommon occurrence, it was also a Saturday, which meant he had an excuse to sleep for a little longer. If it wasn't for his brother, of course, shouting his name over and over and jumping down onto his bed.

"What?" Roman exclaimed, finally sitting up. "What could possibly be so important that you wake me up on a _Saturday_?"

Remus grinned. "I'm heading back into the forest!" he announced, proudly.

Roman stared at him for a moment, then blinked, unimpressed. "And you're telling me because...?"

"You're coming with me!" Remus said, grabbing Roman's wrist and attempting to pull him out of bed. He failed.

"Remus, it's, like, ten in the morning."

"Yeah, and Dad's still asleep, and I wanna leave before he wakes up so he doesn't find out we're going to the forest-"

"Why don't you just tell him?" Roman wondered.

"Because he'd _freak out_."

"I don't think he would."

"He _would_. Especially if he knew about the dragon."

Roman's eyes widened. "Oh shit. The dragon."

"Yup!" Remus grinned. "I wanna go see it again. My new goal in life is to poke it."

"You think that's safe?"

"Nope! That's what makes it fun." He paused for a moment, tapping his leg, before his eyes widened again. "Wait, do you think we could keep it as a pet?"

"It tried to kill us," Roman reminded him.

"Yeah, and? Wolves used to try to kill humans, probably, but then we domesticated them! Bet we could do the same with dragons!"

Roman closed his eyes, sighing. "Lizards, Remus. You're talking about lizards. Just get a lizard."

"I don't _want_ a lizard," Remus said. "I want a _dragon_." He moved away from Roman's bed, heading over to the door. "Get dressed! I'll nip down to the shop and buy us some snacks for a picnic, if you want. We could go to that lake again."

Roman's eyes lit up at that, and, seeing his now happy expression, Remus grinned and left. A moment later, Roman heard the front door slam shut, before he rubbed his eyes and crawled out of bed. He quickly tidied up his clothes from the night before, which he'd just thrown on the floor before getting into bed, then got changed into a red t-shirt, jeans, and a white jacket, decorated in swirling patterns he'd painted on himself. He quickly brushed his hair, sweeping it to the side, then cleaned his teeth and grabbed his backpack, heading downstairs. It would only be him and Remus, he presumed, so he didn't do anything else to make himself look nice. He took his sketch pad from the living room, however, thinking that if they were heading down to the lake he'd have a good chance to try out some landscapes.

"You going somewhere?" a voice asked, as Roman's hand hovered over the doorknob. He spun around, coming face to face with Patton.

"Oh! Morning, Dad," he said. "I was, uh, Remus and I were gonna head out for the day. He just popped down to the shop, we were gonna-"

"Where are you going?" his dad asked.

"Oh, uh, y'know, just in town. Maybe to the fields, we were gonna have a picnic."

His dad frowned. "Alright, be back before dark."

Roman smiled. "Of course! Thank you." He turned again, heading out the door before his dad could change his mind.

~*~

Logan trailed after Janus and Virgil as they walked into town, along the footpath next to the fields. Although Janus _did_ have a car he could theoretically use to drive into the main town area, he had insisted on walking, stating that it would be nice, and also would allow the brothers to learn the way into town when they wanted to go without access to a car. As if they couldn't figure it out themselves.

"Any shops you want to go to in particular?" Janus asked, as they stepped into the town.

Logan and Virgil were both silent.

"Right, of course, you're new," Janus remembered. "Uh... The clothes you brought with you last night are all you have, right? Like, you don't have any more boxes coming?"

"Well, it was a little difficult to get any of our possessions after our house fucking burned down," Virgil mumbled, staring down at the floor.

"Oh. Yes. I'm- I'm sorry-"

"Don't be," Logan quickly said. "We did buy some things after we first moved out, but nowhere we've lived so far have been all that bothered to buy us loads. Virgil and I do have some money of our own, however, so-"

"Logan, you don't need to worry about money," Janus said. "I'm not expecting either of you to buy essentials with your own money, I can handle that." Virgil and Logan exchanged a glance, but said nothing more. Janus continued, "For today, we'll just visit our local clothes shop, and perhaps another day we can drive out to the mall and have a good look around. After that I suppose we should see what kind of food you two would like, and I'll let you two have a wander if you want, check out some of the smaller shops whilst I get some business done."

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Business?"

"I just need to have a chat with someone who lives in town, no big deal."

Despite him saying that, Logan _desperately_ wanted to know. Did it have anything to do with that he saw yesterday? Was there some sketchy going on? Or was it just a mundane problem, or a simple catch up, was Logan thinking too much into this?

Either way, he let Janus lead them around town, finding it best not to argue with Janus. The sooner he got this over with, the sooner he'd be able to explore the forest more.

~*~

By the time that Remus had made it out of the shop, Roman had already caught up, now looking wide awake. Remus' backpack had been filled to the brim with snacks, most of which he'd brought with a tenner he'd found on the kitchen side but some of which came into his possession in a not-so-legal way, as well as some other 'equipment' in the bottom - knives, nets, a picnic blanket, just in case.

"You got up quick," Remus noticed. "Thought you'd spend a little more time brushing that perfect hair of yours."

"I'll have you know, my hair is _already_ perfect, I don't need to _brush_ it for hours for it to look this way." Roman smirked. "Although, maybe _you_ should give it a try."

Remus stuck his tongue out, then spun around on his heel, heading deeper into town. Frowning, Roman ran a little to catch up with him.

"I thought we were heading to the forest?" Roman recalled.

"Well, yeah, but if we walk back down our street Dad will get confused. And then we'll have to explain. _Plus_ , I stole a tenner off him, so-"

Roman blinked. "Where'd you get it?"

"The kitchen." Remus shrugged. "It was just there, lying by the sink, all in its own, abandoned by the world."

"Are you fucking kidding me, Remus," Roman groaned. "That was _mine_."

"You really should take better care of your money, Roman."

"You owe me ten."

"I don't owe you shit, I'm your twin brother, we _share_ things. As Dad would always say, sharing is caring."

"I don't think I've ever heard Dad say that."

"You know that he _thinks_ it all the time, though."

Roman sighed. "Okay, yeah, you're right. Doesn't mean I'm gonna let you off."

"You'll forget eventu-" He froze. "Holy shit, is that those kids from yesterday?"

Roman frowned, then followed Remus' gaze. It was. The two teens they'd met the day before were walking around town, following Janus. Their uncle, right? Yeah. Remus grinned and ran up to them, tapping the older one - Logan - on the shoulder. "Hey!"

Alarmed, Logan spun around, getting into a fighting stance, before noticing Remus and relaxing. "Oh. Hello, Remus."

After catching up with him, Roman said, "What are you doing out here?"

"Shopping," Logan said, "obviously."

Janus turned around and looked at Remus, humming. "Ah. The Prince twins. How are you doing?"

"We're good!" Remus said, grinning. "We were gonna have a picnic. Can Logan and Virgil come with us?" He ignored the confused stare from Roman.

"I don't see why not." Janus turned to the brothers. "How about you two finish up your shopping with the twins, then I'll meet you back home tonight."

Logan looked down at Virgil and something happened between them, some sort of secret communication, before Logan looked back up at Janus. "Yes, that sounds good. I'll see you tonight, Uncle."

Janus smiled. "Stay out of the forest, yeah?" Logan nodded, then he took off, leaving the four teenagers alone on the street.

Once Janus was out of sight, Remus said, "Well, Roman and I were planning on heading into the forest, so I hope you're not one to listen to the adults."

Logan breathed out. "That's what Virgil and I were planning to do as well."

Virgil frowned. "No, actually, I-"

"Awesome!" Remus grabbed Logan's wrist and began to drag him down the street, the other two following. "Anywhere you need to go first?"

"Is there anywhere I could buy a notebook of sorts?" Logan asked.

Remus nodded. "Yeah, there's a stationary place at the end of the high street. C'mon."

~*~

As Janus did his weekly food shop, something gnawed in his chest, a feeling that his nephews were about to get in a whole lot of trouble again. He'd been so stupid the day before, forgetting that they were coming in and then allowing them to run straight into danger, without even being able to tell them it was there.

There was something going on in his town, and Janus had spent the last few years living here trying to figure it all out. He didn't want Logan and Virgil to be getting caught up in all of that. He remembered how when he was younger he'd dragged his brother into mysteries with him, and he knew that had only harmed him, emotionally and physically, and in turn caused their relationship to break down. He didn't want that for his nephews. He wanted them to be safe, he _needed_ to keep them safe.

And if that meant hiding a few things from them, keeping them from exploring the forest, then so be it. He needed to come up with some sort of excuse about the dragon, because they really didn't seem to buy his usual lies. It wasn't difficult to convince others in this town that all they saw was an illusion, a dream, but these boys were smarter, they could tell fantasy from reality, and they _knew_ this was reality. Just like Janus did. And just like the twins.

As far as Janus was aware, the twins had never actually _seen_ anything like the dragon yesterday, nothing entirely real, but they _had_ told him about some things they'd found in the forest, skeletons of long dead mystical creatures, weird equipment lying around - his equipment, mostly, but he tried not to tell them about that - small clues to suggest the existence of the extraordinary. He knew all about their self proclaimed 'monster hunting' business, and didn't want to attempt to sway them from that, of course he wanted them to have interests, but... he did worry, sometimes. And he definitely didn't want Logan and Virgil to be getting caught up in all of that. They'd both already been through enough.

After paying for his shopping and leaving the store, Janus pulled out his phone and called Patton, who picked up on the second ring.

"Janus!" he greeted, happily. "How are you doing? The boys settling in okay?"

"I'm quite fine, Patton, thank you," Janus said. "Logan and Virgil are alright as well, I hope. They've just met up with Roman and Remus, actually."

"Oh, have they?" Patton sounded just a little confused, but tried to mask that with his usual happy persona. For the longest time Janus had wondered why Patton always did that, always hid his emotions, until he thought about how much he lied to keep the secrets of this town _secrets_. He sort of understood. Perhaps Patton just didn't want anyone else to be upset. "They didn't tell me that."

"Well, I'd imagine they're just happy to have some friends," Janus said. "I don't know them as well as you do, of course, but... I've never seen them with anyone else."

"Yeah." Patton sounded a little sadder there, his mask beginning to fade. "I think Roman's had a little trouble fitting in at school, and Remus isn't going to abandon him. They'll have your boys soon though, at least. I'm glad they've made friends."

"Yes, yes, of course." Janus glanced up and down the street, but didn't see any signs of the kids. Perhaps they'd already left town. "Did they tell you where they were going, by any chance?"

"Roman mentioned the field," Patton said.

"Alright. Okay, yeah, that's good." Janus sighed. "If you see them, keep an eye on them, okay? They've been through a lot, and-"

"Don't worry," Patton said, his usual chipper voice returning. "I'll make sure they're safe."

Janus let out a breath. "Thank you."

"No worries." Although he couldn't see him, Janus imagined that Patton was grinning. "I've got to go, though, washing the dishes right now."

"Yeah, of course, sorry. Goodbye, Patton."

"See ya!" Patton hung up. Janus stared at his phone screen for a while, before sighing and beginning to walk back home.

~*~

"Logan, this is a bad idea," Virgil murmured, tugging on his older brother's sleeve. "Uncle Janus literally told us to stay out of the forest."

"Since when have you ever listened to what the adults say?

"Since when have _you_ ever broken a rule?"

"What's so bad about the forest?" Remus asked, spinning around and beginning to walk backwards, as the four of them approached the forest.

"Our uncle said it was dangerous."

"Yeah, duh." Remus rolled his eyes. "It's a forest. There's probably, like, wolves and shit."

Virgil froze.

Roman just laughed. "What, so you're afraid of a little wolf but not of that literal dragon?"

"I'm fucking _terrified_ of the dragon!" Virgil snapped.

"Calm down, Virgil," Logan said, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. That _did_ make Virgil feel a little better, he had to admit. "We'll be fine. The dragon's dead, remember?"

"We don't _know_ that the dragon's dead," Virgil said, "and we also don't know that there isn't more of them."

Remus groaned. "No one is forcing you to come, you know? If you're gonna be a stick in the mud just go back home."

Virgil just clung onto Logan, as Logan pulled tighter. He wasn't leaving without Logan, that was for sure. He _refused_ to go anywhere without Logan.

"Alright then." Remus shrugged. "It'll be fun, anyway. Trust me, you aren't going to die. Not today, at least." He backed up into a tree, and let out a short cry of pain, before spinning back around and kicking the tree, glaring angrily at it. "Who the fuck put a tree here?"

"We're here." Roman grinned and picked up the pace, heading deeper into the forest. Sighing, Virgil broke away from Logan's grasp and followed, eyes darting around nervously for any signs of danger. He put his hands in his pockets, clinging onto his phone just in case they got themselves into danger - who he would call, Virgil hadn't figured out yet, but it was better than nothing. Hopefully, by the time they reached the cave the dragon will have disappeared, perhaps it really had just been a figment of their imagination in the first place. They were having a picnic soon as well, right? At the very least, that was something to look forward to.

"So," Roman said, walking next to Virgil as Logan and Remus forged ahead, beginning to exchange theories on the dragon. Virgil wasn't really surprised at Logan doing that, but it was weird to see Remus that way, acting just as much of a nerd as Logan was. "What brings you to town?"

Virgil frowned, glancing down at Roman. He was just a little comforted by the fact that Roman was shorter than him, despite being older. Not _much_ shorter, but shorter nonetheless. "I'm living with my uncle now."

"Yeah, but, like. Why?" Roman said. "Why here? Literally anywhere else would be cooler."

Virgil blinked. "Uh. My parents died. I didn't really have much of choice."

Roman's eyes widened in realisation. "Oh, shit. Uh. S-Sorry-"

"Don't be." Virgil sighed. "It was a while ago. I'm... over it." He wasn't, not really, but he didn't need to tell Roman that. It was something he was still working through - he _had_ been seeing a therapist about it a few months ago, but had to stop after moving too far away. But that was fine, he was fine. He still had Logan, at least.

"Still," Roman continued, "that must be, uh, hard. I-I can't even imagine what that would feel like."

"Eh." Virgil shrugged. "Seriously, don't worry about it. Logan and I are just here now because... Janus is all the family we have left, I think. Took him a while to find us, but we're here now, so... yeah."

Roman gave him a sad smile. He didn't seem to quite know how to respond. Which was fair enough, really. He looked vaguely uncomfortable.

"What about your family?" Virgil found himself asked, wanting to steer the conversation away from himself.

A real smile grew across Roman's face. "It's good. Just me, Remus and Dad. We... have family elsewhere, I think, but never really talk to them. Janus is... also basically family, he's almost like a second dad to us."

"What about your mum?" Virgil asked, immediately regretting it afterwards but finding no way to take it back. It wasn't as if he could travel back in time - _could_ he travel back in time? If dragons were real, then who's to say that time travel wasn't?

"I never knew her," Roman said. "She split up with Dad when Remus and I were young. Dad got full custody."

"Oh. Did something-"

"Nothing bad happened," Roman cleared up. "They just weren't really a good match, what with Dad being a flaming homosexual and all. She didn't really want anything to do with him when she found out."

Oh. _Oh._ Virgil had never actually met an _adult_ who was gay before. Children, yeah - he'd been to plenty schools with out queer kids, a few of Logan's old friends, including _himself_ , were gay, and Virgil was... not straight, possibly bi, he wasn't quite sure yet. But that was cool. Nice to know that Patton would be... accepting.

"Were you and your parents close?" Roman asked, to which Virgil was half tempted to punch him in the face because _who asks that_ but held himself back.

Instead, Virgil just shrugged. "I guess. I mean, I do miss them, but..." He breathed in. "Like I said, it's been a while. I don't... I don't really want to talk about it."

Roman was silent for a moment. "Okay. Sorry."

"It's okay." Virgil sighed. "It's fine. Just don't have the energy today."

"I-I get it." Virgil _seriously_ doubted that he did, but didn't say any more. The group had reached the cave now, which meant he had far greater things to be dealing with. Like making sure that his brother and possible-friends didn't get killed.

As the group stepped into the cave, Virgil's heart began to pound, as the events from the day before suddenly came flooding back. This cave was creepy enough on its own, with the dim, blinking lights and the quiet whirring of distant machinery, but knowing that there was possibly a dragon running loose was an even worse feeling. What if they weren't so lucky this time? What if they didn't make it out? What if they got caught exactly like they did last time and nobody came to save them?

"Hey," Remus whispered into his ear, causing Virgil to jump back, somewhat startled. Something was gently lowered into his hands, something sharp and metallic, before Remus stalked away. "Just in case."

Virgil looked down at the object in his hands, frowning for a second before completely freaking out, almost throwing the object across the room. "What the fuck do you want me to do with a knife?" Knowing that his original plan to throw the knife away could result in someone getting injured, he instead held it out at arms length.

Logan sighed, turning around to Virgil and taking the knife out of his hands. "Remus, please don't give my _fourteen year old_ brother a knife. Why do you even have knives in the first place?" Logan placed the knife in his own pocket, and Virgil tried his best not to think about its presence.

"We could be fighting a dragon soon!" Remus defended, his loud voice echoing through the cave. "We need to be prepared!"

"Yeah, but giving a child a knife isn't the way to do that," Logan said.

"I'm not a child," Virgil argued. "You're only two years older than me."

"Yes. That makes you a child."

Virgil stuck his tongue out, then charged forward, going to walk next to Remus instead. Perhaps to annoy his brother, or perhaps because he was the one with the knives, so if they _were_ attacked he would be able to defend them. The group arrived at the smaller tunnel from the day before, where they had originally found the dragon. Only to find it completely empty.

"Huh," Logan said with a frown, walking past Virgil further into the tunnel as Virgil stopped, allowing himself to fall back to the back of the group. The same mistake he'd made the way before, before coming face to face with a fucking dragon, but he didn't exactly have any other options. "What happened?"

"Maybe we just dreamt it, like Uncle Janus said," Virgil suggested.

"No, it was definitely here," Logan muttered, crouching down onto the ground. He looked ahead at where the door had been, to find it open once more, then back at the ground, placing a hand on the rocks and feeling around.

"Maybe it flew away!" Remus said, crouching down next to Logan.

"No, it was injured, it couldn't have gotten far," Logan countered.

There was silence for a while, and Virgil was half tempted to turn around and walk back home, leave these weirdos alone to deal with the missing dragon, but still he stayed, not wanting to leave his brother alone. If the dragon really was real, and it had escaped further into the cave, or even got out, he didn't want to risk leaving Logan alone in here with it. Even if he was with the twins - Virgil still wasn't sure what to think of the twins, they seemed to be the type to run into danger for the fun of it and Virgil did not vibe with that at all.

Eventually, Roman performed a dramatic gasp, and ran over to his brother, gripping his shoulders. "Remus, you know what this means?"

"Please don't say 'monster hunter time'."

"Monster hunter time!"

Virgil blinked, stepping forward. "Uh, what's monster hunter time?"

"Remus and I are monster hunters!" Roman said, with a grin.

" _Roman_ is a monster hunter," Remus corrected. " _I_ am a person who searches for creatures of mythical or illogical origin."

"Yeah, exactly, a monster hunter."

"Shut up, Roman."

" _You're_ the one who started the monster hunting thing-"

"Yeah, and _I_ wanted us to the called 'the cryptid catchers' but _you_ said that was dumb, so..."

"It _is_ dumb."

"Alliteration isn't dumb."

"Can you _both_ just _shut up_ and explain what you mean?" Virgil snapped.

Roman sighed. "Yeah, yeah, okay. Remus and I have a hobby of coming into this forest and looking for weird shit. We've never found anything alive, _but_ now we know there's a dragon somewhere, _so_ we're gonna hunt it down."

There was a pause, before Virgil said, "Do you want to get us killed?"

"Yes!" Remus shouted. After Roman nudged his arm, he corrected, "No!"

"C'mon, Virgil," Logan said, rising up off the floor. "It might be fun."

Virgil just stared at him like he was insane.

"If it gets too much, we can head home," Logan promised.

Virgil let out a long, long sigh. "Okay. Fine."

~*~

A few hours after leaving the boys, Janus found himself in Patton's kitchen, running his fingers through his hair and trying to figure out why this was already taking such a toll on him. He knew that Logan and Virgil were okay, they'd been through _a lot_ worse than just having a picnic with the twins, but they'd been out for a while now and he hadn't so much have received a text from either of them or seen them in the fields and _he'd promised himself that he'd take care of them, what if they were hurt, what if-_

No, no. He'd _also_ promised that he wasn't going to be too protective of the boys. Obviously he wanted to protect them from his work, keep them safely in reality, keep them safe from any harm, but at the same time they were both teenagers, who were smart enough to take care of themselves. They needed to have independence, he didn't want them to feel as though he was trying to control them. He wanted them to live their own lives, make their own decisions. Even if those decisions could potentially put them in danger. Obviously he'd try his best to prevent that, but...

"I'm sure they're fine, Janus," Patton said, placing a cup of tea down in front of him and sitting down opposite him. "Roman and Remus are both quite independent, and also... somewhat sensible, they'll be keeping them safe."

"I've had them for less than twenty four hours and I'm already terrified that they're going to get hurt," Janus said, staring down at his tea.

Patton gave him a small smile. "That's just what comes with being a parent, Janus. You'll always be afraid that your children are going to get hurt, and you'll do everything in your power to protect them, but you need to let them go as well. No matter how scared you are, you'll always have faith that they will eventually come back safe."

Janus sighed. "This is why I didn't want children."

There was silence for a moment, until Patton quietly asked, "Janus, why _did_ you decide to take them in?"

Janus took a long gulp of his tea, trying not to show how much it burnt his tongue as he put it back down. He opened his mouth to speak, before deciding to take another gulp. Procrastination at it's best. In truth, he didn't quite know why he'd decided to take them in. He could have just left them to continue to be thrown around different foster homes, until they eventually both aged out of the system and went to live their own lives. He hadn't talked, even _wanted_ to talk to any of his family in years, and now...

"Because they're all I have left," he eventually said. After seeing Patton's confused expression, he continued, "Both of my own parents are dead, and I stopped speaking to my brother years ago. So then when I found out he died, I... I don't know, I felt like I should have tried better. I never really engaged with my family, kinda just got out of there as soon as I could, but... yeah. Then I find out that my brother had two kids, and that they were all alone in the world, so I reached out and tried to get them. I wanted them to be safe."

Patton looked at him for a while, considering him, before smiling. "I think that's nice of you. Virgil and Logan deserve to have a family just as much as you did."

Janus scoffed. "Yeah, no, I don't blame my family for never trying to connect with me again. You don't know this, but I was kinda shitty person back then. Abandoned my family because they deserved better, and... I don't know, I wanted more out of life. Made a lot of mistakes, talked to a lot of people who didn't make life much better, and... now I'm here, just trying to make the most of things."

"I'm sure you weren't-"

"You don't know anything about my past, Patton," Janus said, perhaps a little too harshly, judging by the way Patton flinched. He immediately felt bad about that. "Sorry, I... That's all behind me now, y'know? I... You're probably closer to me than any of my family ever was."

He tried not to focus on how Patton blushed at that. And _definitely_ didn't blush himself.

"I'm just... worried about the boys," Janus admitted. "They're all I have left and-"

"It'll be okay, Janus," Patton reassured him, "they'll be okay."

~*~

The further the group traveled into the cave, the more excited Logan became about all of this. Machinery was scattered all around, in little rooms and on the walls of tunnels, blinking lights and buttons with weird symbols. It took all of Logan's strength not to go up and push the buttons, just to find out what happened. He held himself back simply because he didn't want to press the wrong button and get himself killed, but _God_ was he curious.

"Who do you think made all of these?" Logan wondered, stopping by one of the machines and crouching down, trying to get a better look around it. He could see a small hatch on the side with a keyhole, and desperately wanted to open it to look inside, to see what was going on.

"Probably some government place," Roman said. "These machines have always been here. I don't think they really do anything."

Logan hummed, reaching towards the hatch and attempting to pull it open. It was locked, which really shouldn't have shocked him. "Do any of you guys know how to pick locks?"

"Oh!" Remus exclaimed, jumping down next to Logan. "I do!"

Virgil seemed just a little alarmed by that. "Should we be concerned?"

"Nah." Remus looked at the lock for a moment, before taking a pin out of his pocket and beginning to pick the lock. A moment later, the hatch swung open. "There!" He moved away, allowing Logan to get a closer.

There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Just wires and cogs, and clear glasses showing some sort of energy source, Logan presumed - a neon green liquid. He tried not to think about that. After staring at it a moment longer, he closed the hatch and stood back up, continuing to follow the others deeper into the cave.

Every now and then, he'd stop by a machine and take out his new sketchbook (which he planned to turn into a journal of sorts) and doodle some of the symbols, mostly to make a note and see if he could research them later. He was intrigued to find out what they meant, although most just seemed to be random shapes - then again, he _did_ spot a couple Greek letters, perhaps the ones he didn't recognise were something like that?

They heard a noise from further down the tunnel, and stopped. A moment later, the noise disappeared, only to start back up again. Logan glanced at the others, trying to figure out if they had any idea what was going on. It didn't sound... aggressive, or even particularly terrifying, but it was different than the quiet whirring of machinery, and seemed to echo around in the tight space. Plus, knowing that it was highly likely that there was a dragon on the loose didn't make things much better.

"Maybe we should just go back home-" Virgil quietly suggested, trying to turn back only to be physically stopped by Roman.

"It's probably nothing," Logan said, half to reassure his brother and half to reassure himself. He continued to walk down the corridor, slower this time, towards the source of the sound. It sounded... well, not dangerous, not really. Peaceful, probably quiet if it wasn't for the echo. At the corner where the noise was at its loudest, Logan stopped, pressing his back against the wall and peaking around. "Oh, no, okay, that's a dragon."

Virgil's eyes widened. "You're kidding, right?"

"I'm gonna pet it!" Remus said, a little too loudly, as he surged forward, a little too fast. Logan grabbed his arm just before he made it around the corner, pulling him back.

"Remus, that is literally the worst idea you've come up with all day," Logan said, monotonously.

Remus pouted. "But, like, that was my entire reason for hunting down the dragon-"

"Remus, I don't know _how_ to explain to you how much of a terrible idea this is."

"Well _maybe_ if you let me try you'd see that it's actually a good idea-"

Logan opened his mouth to argue more, but stopped as he saw Virgil walk past them, heading straight towards the dragon. _Shit._ He let go of Remus' wrist and followed Virgil, trying to stop him as well, but it was too late. Virgil was right by the dragon's side, crouching down. "Virgil, come-"

"Shh," Virgil said, reaching a hand towards the dragon. "It's sleeping." His hand connected with the scales on the dragon's head, and he began to slowly stroke it, the dragon staying completely still.

Remus turned around the corner, slowly followed by Roman, looking incredibly disappointed. "Why is Virgil allowed to pet it but not me?"

"He's not," Logan said, folding his arms, but still softening his voice a little. The dragon _did_ look peaceful, happy, and it wasn't... attacking them, or anything. Plus, if Logan wanted to get a drawing done and study it, having Virgil keeping it calm like this would be good. Eventually, Logan moved further into the room, sitting down with his back to the wall and taking out his journal, trying to draw the dragon to the best of his ability.

Remus seemed to take that as an excuse to go pet the dragon as well, whilst Roman went to sit down next to Logan, observing the situation and chuckling every now and then. After ten minutes or so, he turned to look, frowning at the drawing on the page.

"That sucks," he said, simply.

Logan glared at him. "I'm not exactly an artist."

"Yeah, but, like. It's right in front of you."

"You think you can do better?"

"Yup." Roman took the journal out of Logan's hand, pulled a pencil out of his bag, and began to draw, glancing up at the dragon every few seconds. And Logan had to admit, it _was_ good. Roman had very clearly had a lot of practise when it came to art, and... Christ, yeah, it was pretty realistic. "See?"

"Okay, yes. That... is a lot better than mine."

Roman grinned.

"I'm, uh, I was actually planning on drawing out any creature we come across," Logan told Roman. "And also keep more scientific notes about them on the same pages. Do you- Would you be willing to draw everything for me? You are... very skilled, I have to admit."

Roman smirked. "Sure. Does that mean you'll be a monster hunter as well?"

Logan hesitated, before slowly nodding. "If you two are willing to let me tag along. I think it will be... interesting, at the very least."

"What about Virgil?" Roman asked. "Seems unfair if you come along but not him."

"Yeah, I don't want to die, thank you very much," Virgil said from the other side, still stroking the dragon, utterly entranced.

"You say that, and then you're the one stroking a dragon," Logan said.

Virgil paused, before continuing to stroke it. "Fair point. Okay, I'm in, or whatever."

Logan stood up, approaching the dragon and beginning to examine it. It looked... real, alive, it's chest slowly moving up and down as it breathed. Red scales, reptilian, similar to that of a snake. It looked... almost exactly how he'd expect a dragon to look, like it was straight out of a fairy tale. It was that detail that made Logan question just how real it was.

It could very easily have been a piece of machinery, just like everything else in this cave, perhaps something that had gone haywire. But at the same time, it was _breathing_ , and the scales felt real, and... well, Logan guessed that he _wanted_ it to be real. He wanted something... cool in his life, something extraordinary, something to prove that his life wasn't meaningless.

Perhaps living in this town wouldn't be so bad. As much as Janus was... well, as hard as Logan found it to _trust_ Janus, he had certainly been better than... pretty much every other 'home' they had been in, although they had only known him less than a day. Roman and Remus were nice, at least, and Logan was excited to be able to work with them, to try to solve the mysteries of this town. The mysteries that Logan was _sure_ existed, because, goddamnit, he was going to find them. With Roman and Remus around, he figured that probably wouldn't be hard.

Logan ended up stroking the dragon's tail, a wave of calmness rushing over him. This was nice. Things were nice. And... well, Logan could certainly see himself returning to this cave for more research, perhaps to study those machines more or even just to check out the dragon again. He wanted to know things, to learn things, and this seemed like a pretty good way to do that, to discover the secrets of the world.

~*~

Patton was a little worried about Janus, to say the least. He'd left his house a while ago, returned home to wait for his nephews, but he'd been acting a little... odd. Janus wasn't usually so open about his feelings, and his past, and... anything, really. Even to Patton, Janus remained a total mystery.

A good mystery, Patton had found. He always enjoyed Janus' presence, probably a little more than he should have. He almost reminded Patton of his ex, before she... well, before things got bad between the two of them. Patton had loved her, that much he knew, but they hadn't been a good match. He hadn't loved her in the way she wanted him to love her. She had never wanted a family, just wanted someone to screw around with, really. Patton had wanted something long term, and... well, thinking back he probably saw her as more of a friend. He'd have been happy spending his life with her, but in a platonic relationship rather than romantic or sexual. He wasn't even into girls, although he didn't know that at the time.

Janus, however, was just a little different. There was that same feeling of wanting to spend the rest of his life with him, wanting to build up to the world with him in mind, but it was... stronger. Patton wanted more than just friendship with Janus, and... perhaps he did too. Patton _hoped_ so, anyway. Only time would tell, though. It could have just been a silly crush, for all Patton knew, he'd had plenty of those in his lifetime. And Janus probably wasn't even interested - he had his own life to be focusing on, always busy with 'work' (whatever that was), and now he had two kids to be looking out for as well. It wasn't the right time, not just yet.

Patton sighed as he stared out the window, looking across the fields whilst washing the dishes. He had an alright life, he supposed. A nice town, a stable job, two brilliant children. There wasn't anything to complain about, not really. Still, a part of him wanted more.

~*~

The four 'monster hunters' (they'd have to think of a name for themselves, but that could wait for now) gathered around a lake in the middle of the forest, sitting near the edge. Roman sat with his sketchbook in his lap, his pencil gliding gracefully across the page as he drew the scene in front of him, the ripples spreading out across the water and the little trees in the distance, the few fluffy clouds in the sky. The rest of the group were sat around eating, looking fairly happy with themselves.

"Is this going to be a regular occurrence?" Logan asked, looking back and forth between the twins.

After a moment of silence, Roman shrugged, and said, "If you want it to be. Re and I come down here all the time, you're more than welcome to join whenever."

"No, I mean..." Logan sighed. "Exploring the forest. Finding weird things."

Remus grinned. "Yeah! We come out here almost every day!"

A small smile spread across Logan's face. "Alright. That is... satisfactory."

"If you end up getting me or my brother killed," Virgil said, "I'm going to murder you. I hope you know that."

"How can you kill us when you're dead?" Remus pointed out.

"Shut up."

"No one's going to die," Roman promised. "We know the forest like the backs of our hands. If anything does go wrong, we can just call Janus. He took down the dragon that first time, remember?"

Logan and Virgil exchanged a glance that Roman couldn't quite decipher, before Logan slowly nodded. "Yes. Of course."

Roman smiled. The other three smiled back. He looked back out across the lake, and sighed, feeling the wind brush his cheeks and smelling the freshwater in the air. Things were going to be great, he knew it. 


End file.
